Characters of Da Vinci Code

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Smt. S.B. Gardi Department of  English     

                            

                    Assignments

             Name:-  Rathod Neha R.
              Class:- M.A. Sem-4
              Roll No:- 28
            Email Id:- neharathod108@gmail.com
        Year:- 2016-2017
        Paper No:- 13
      Topic:- Characters of Da Vinci Code                     

                 Characters of Da Vinci Code

                              Robert Langdon 

                      

            Langdon, the novel’s protagonist, anchors the story. He is likable, capable, and goodhearted. Langdon is trustworthy, as is Sophie, his female counterpart and love interest. This trustworthiness makes him stand out in a narrative in which the author casts doubt on the motivations of every major character except Langdon and Sophie. In the novel’s many moments of uncertainty, Langdon’s presence is consistently reassuring.

Although he is seen as a sex symbol in the academic world, Langdon is clumsy and inept with guns and weapons and lacks resolve when it comes to planning and executing action. He would rather think about codes and symbols than figure out how to escape the Louvre under the eyes of policemen. For this reason, he is balanced well by Sophie, who transforms his intellectual abilities into survival skills that are applicable to real life.

                     

                                  Jacques Saunière

 

 The curator at the Louvre, and Sophie’s grandfather. His murder sets off the chain of events that takes place in the novel. Saunière’s scholarly passions include Leonardo Da Vinci, goddess iconography, and puzzles. He is also secretly the head of the Priory of Sion, the secret brotherhood charged with protecting the Grail, and a descendent of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

                          Sophie Neveu Saint-Clair

                                                   

Neveu’s presence in the novel embodies the Chinese idea of yin and yang, or two complementary forces that work together in harmony. From Langdon and Teabing, Sophie learns that pagan religions and the Priory valued balance between male and female. Sophie and Langdon form the male and female halves of a single protagonist, and their goals never diverge. In this way, they echo Teabing’s and Langdon’s ideas about the partnership of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. In their view, the male and the female worked together toward a goal, without the female being subordinate to the male in any way.
Both Sophie and Langdon, like the Mona Lisa, exhibit male and female traits: for example, Langdon’s headiness is balanced by Sophie’s real world know-how. Sophie is quick-witted, agile, devious when she needs to be, and physically assertive, as when she helps to disable Silas in the chateau. But at the same time, she is caring and compassionate. She feels the loss of her family deeply and mourns the death of her grandfather. Both brilliant and sexually attractive, Sophie combines a masculine toughness with typically feminine qualities. 

                                                   Silas

A monk of Opus Dei, and the murderer of Jacques Saunière. Silas, an albino, is motivated by the rejection and horror he has faced since he was young. When he falls into the orbit of Bishop Aringarosa, he finds religion and devotes himself to the strict Catholic ways of Opus Dei. He is obsessed with self-punishment and celibacy, and his goal in life is to aid the Bishop and Opus Dei.

                       Sir Leigh Teabing/The Teacher

 
Initially, Teabing is a welcome benefactor for Sophie and Langdon. His estate, Château Villette, with its gorgeous sitting room and enormous, book-lined study, seems to be an appealing embodiment of its owner. Teabing supplies much-needed comic relief, and he banters with his manservant and with Sophie as if he were a rich and dotty old uncle. His Land Rover and the bribes he gives to his pilot at the airfield in France help Sophie and Langdon escape from the police.

Soon enough, though, Brown reveals that Teabing is a murderer. After his true identity is known, Teabing turns into a living example of the way wealth can corrupt. Teabing, who has always lived a privileged life, convinces himself that his money entitles him to the knowledge of the Grail’s location. His ballroom-turned-study, which at first seems charmingly cluttered, begins to look like the crazy lair of a serial killer. His jokes turn from entertaining to manipulative. And his habit of throwing money around, bribing people in order to ensure the group’s safe passage out of France, seems self-serving.

Teabing is willing to go to any lengths to get what he wants, no matter who he hurts along the way. In some sense, his desire to expose the truth about the Grail can be seen as noble. But by the end of the novel, it is clear that he is really out to satisfy his own perverse obsession, not to find truth. 

                                         Bishop Aringarosa  

Bishop of Opus Dei. Aringarosa is conservative in his religious views and longs for the Church to return to strict ways. He has affection for material things that represent the power of his order. He is kind to Silas.

                                     Sister Sandrine Bieil

 Nun and keeper of the Church of Saint-Sulpice. She favors loosening of church strictures and modernizing of the church, and she objects to Opus Dei’s attitude toward women. She is murdered by Silas while acting as a sentry for the Priory of Sion.

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